^LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, I 



# 

i UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, f 



RESTORATION RESOLUTIONS 



INTRODUCED BY 



HON. ¥. I. STEWART, OF NEVADA, 



EXPLANATORY REMARKS BY HIMSELF AND OTHERS, 



IN THE SENATE, MARCH 16, 1866. 



r/ 

WASHINGTON: 
PRINTED AT THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE OFFICE. 

1866. 






REPRESENTATION OF SOUTHERN STATES. 



Mr. STEWART. I ask leave to introduce 
a joint resolution. I should like to have the 
whole of it read, ana I ask the privilege of 
explaining it after it is read. 

The Secretary read it, as follows : 

A joint resolution (S. R. No. 48) setting forth certain 
conditions upon which the States, the people of 
which have been lately in rebellion against the 
United States, shall berostoredto their representa- 
tion in Congress. 

Whereas in the present distracted condition of the 
country it is eminently proper and necessary that all 
just and constitutional meansshould be employed for 
the quieting of popular excitement, the removal of 
unreasonable prejudices, and the obliteration of all 
hostile feeling growing out of the late unhappy civil 
war; and whereas one of the most prolific sources of 
unfriendly sentiment is the conflict of opinion exist- 
ing on the subject of negro suffrage; and whereas it 
is now most evident that there is no probability what- 
ever that Senators and Representatives in Congress 
from the States whose people were lately in insurrec- 
tion will be allowed to occupy the seats to which they 
have been elected until said States shall have com- 
plied with certain fundamental conditions, a portion 
of which are hereinafter recited; and whereas it is 
unreasonable to expect the reestablishuient of har- 
mony and good feeling so long as the eleven southern 
States whose people were recently in insurrection are 
prevented from resuming their ancient relations to 
this Government: Therefore, 

Be it revolved by the Senate and llouse of Represent- 
atives of the United States in Congress assembled, 1. 
That each of said States, whoso people were lately 
in insurrection, as aforesaid, shall be recognized as 
having fully and validly resumed itsformer relations 
with this Government, and its chosen representatives 
shall bo admitted into thetwo Houses of the national 
Legislature whenever said State shallhaveso amend- 
ed its constitution as, first, to do away all existing 
distinctions as to civil rights and disabilities among 



the various classes of its population by reason either 
of race or color, or previous condition of servitude ; 
6econd, to repudiate allpecuniary indebtedness which 
said State may have heretofore contracted, incurred, 
or assumed in connection with the late unnatural 
and treasonable war; third, to yield all claim to 
compensation on account of the liberation of its 
slaves; and fourth, to provide for the extension of 
the elective franchise to all persons upon the same 
terms and conditions,- making no discrimination on 
account of race, color, or previous condition of servi- 
tude : Provided, That those who were qualified to 
vote in the year 18C0 by the laws of their respective 
States shall not be disfranchised by reason of any 
new tests or conditions which have been or may be 
prescribed since that year. 

2. Resolved, That after the aforesaid conditions shall 
have been complied with and thesame shall have been 
ratified by a majority of the present voting popula- 
tion of the State, including all those qualified to vote 
under the laws thereof as they J existed in 1S60, a gen- 
eral amnesty shall be proclaimed in regard to all per- 
sons in such State who were in any way connected 
with armed opposition to the Government of the Uni- 
ted States, wholly exonerating them from all pains, 
penalties, or disabilities to which they may have be- 
come liable by reason of their connection with the 
rebellion. 

3. Resolved, That in view of the importance of the 
thorough assimilation of the basis of suffrage in the 
various States of the Union, all other States not above 
specified be respectfully requested to incorporate an 
amendment in their State constitutions respectively, 
corresponding with the one above described. 

4. Resolved, That in the adoption of the aforesaid 
resolutions it is not intended to assert a coercive power 
on the part of Congress in regard to the regulation of 
the right of suffrage in the different States of the 
Union, but only to make a respectful and earnest ap- 
peal to theirown good sense and love of country, with 
a view to the prevention of serious evils now threat- 
ened, and to the peaceful perpetuation of the repose, 






the happiness, and true glory of the whole American 
people. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Does the 
Senator from Nevada ask for the present con- 
sideration of the resolution ? 

Mr. STEWART. I ask leave to say a few 
words in explanation. I want the joint reso- 
lution printed and referred to the committee 
on reconstruction, but before that question is 
put I ask unanimous consent to say a few words 
in explanation. I have been a careful obser- 
ver of the current of events since Congress 
assembled, and I have come to the conclusion 
that a proposition of this kind corresponds 
with the prevailing sentiment in Congress and 
also in the country as indicated by the public 
press. I do jiot mean to express any opinion 
as to the propriety or impropriety of negro 
suffrage, which I have studiously avoided doing 
on all occasions during this session. 

Mr. POMEROY. What about that « white 
man's Government?" 

Mr. STEWART. About the white man's 
Government I said that the idea should not be 
scoffed at ; that it was a prejudice in the coun- 
try that no man had a right to disregard ; and 
I still say so. But I was going on to explain 
that having come to the conclusion that this 
is the present attitude of Congress and of the 
country, and not having heard from the south- 
ern States upon the proposition, I think it but 
fair and just that the best terms Congress is 
willing to grant at this session should be sub- 
mitted to the South for them to adopt volun- 
tarily or to reject. This proposition avoids all 
the odious provisions which were attached to 
the other propositions that have been brought 
forward, in my estimation which appeared like 
coercion. It also avoids the long road of a 
constitutional amendment which must be con- 
tested upon northern battle-fields before the 
South will have an opportunity to be heard 
upon it. 

This, or something of this character, is the 
only proposition that can be heard in the South 
upon which they can pass during this session 
of Congress. I do not pretend to be wedded 
to the particular provisions, but simply to the 
general proposition. I want it to conform ex- 
actly to the sentiment of Congress. I want the 
South to have an opportunity to vote upon it 



without embodying in it any of the provisions 
which they regard as odious or coercive. After 
the proposition has been discussed, if they re- 
fuse to adopt it it will be time enough to. con- 
sider other propositions; but until they do 
refuse I think it is unjust to take from them 
the right to decide for themselves. I will say 
furthermore, in presenting this proposition, 
that I find it to be in accord with the telegram 
sent by the President of the United States to 
Judge Sharkey, which I am authorized to say 
Judge Sharkey informs me is genuine. It cor- 
responds in spirit with that dispatch, and I have 
no reason to believe, from what the President 
of the United States has said heretofore, that 
he at all objects to it. I beg leave to read the 
dispatch referred to : 

Executive Mansion, 
Washington, D. C, August 15, 1865. 
Governor William L. Sharkey, Jackson, Mississippi: 
I am gratified to see that you have organized your 
convention without difficulty. I hope that without 
delay your convention will amend your State consti- 
tution, abolishing slavery and denying to all future 
Legislatures the powers to legislate that there is prop- 
erty in man. Also, that they will adopt the amend- 
nientto the Constitution of the United States abolish- 
mgslavery. If you could extend the elective franchise 
to all persons of color who can read the Constitution 
of the United Statesin English and write theirnames, 
and to all persons of color who own real estate val- 
ued at not less than 8250, and pay taxes thereon, you 
would completely disarm the adversary and set an 
example the other States would follow. This you can 
do with perfect safety, and you thus place the south- 
ern States, in reference to free persons of color, upon 
the same basis with the free States. I hope and trust 
your convention will do this, and, as a consequence, 
the radicals, who are wild upon negro franchise, will 
be completely, foiled in their attempts to keep the 
southern States from renewing their relations to the 
Union by not accepting their Senators and Represent- 
atives. 

ANDREW JOHNSON, 

President United States. 
I will state that this letter was not sent to the 
convention for the reason that, as Judge Shar- 
key understood, the convention had refused to 
receive communications from him upon such 
subjects, so that the question never was pre- 
sented to the people of that State or any other 
State. The President it appears did not feel 
himself authorized to submit the question to 
the people, or to demand it as a condition, 
because it was not one of the issues made in 
the war. He confined himself to those issues. 



This was a question outside on which the peo- 
ple of the South have had no chance of pass- 
ing. The resolution, it will be perceived, in 
terms proposes to confer equal suffrage upon 
all persons ; that the same tests shall apply to 
all persons with one exception ; that is, that 
persons who were entitled to vote in 1860 under 
the laws of their respective States shall not 
under any circumstances be disfranchised. It 
leaves the States at liberty to fix any educa- 
tional or property test that they may desire as 
regards other persons. That would apply to 
the young white population under twenty-seven 
years of age as well as the colored population. 
Both would be placed precisely upon the same 
footing as to educational tests. It would be 
unfair now, I think, to impose an educational 
test upon a man who had passed those years 
at which persons can with facility learn to read 
and write. This jfould place the young white 
men of the country as far as tests are concerned 
upon the same footing with the colored people 
for all future time. If the States desire to es- 
tablish an educational test, it would only apply 
to young white men who are now under the 
age of twenty-seven, an age at which people 
can readily learn to read and write. A test of 
that kind can be applied under this resolu- 
tion, thus excluding that mass of ignorance 
which all must confess would embarrass the 
operations of Government. At the same time 
it holds out the opportunity which appears to 
be desired on the part of the majority of Con- 
gress that the negro may have an opportunity 
ultimately to be enfranchised. At all events 
it submits the whole question to the South for 
them to determine, and we disclaim by the res- 
olution any desire to coerce them in so doing. 

The resolution also places before them dis- 
tinctly the other questions that are not wholly 
settled as to the rebel debt,*and as to any claim 
or compensation for the emancipation of their 
slaves. Let them pass upon these questions 
fairly. 

The resolution calls upon the rebels to vote 
upon these propositions. I am of opinion that 
the South cannot be governed except by a ma- 
jority of its people. I do not believe that one 
tenth can govern the rest of the people. In 
order to govern them they must necessarily re- 
sort to such arbitrary means as will destroy free 



government in the South. The majority must 
govern, and I think it but fair that we should 
give the rebels an opportunity to assent to this 
proposition, because I believe that this is about 
the sense of the country. If they reject it, it 
will then be time enough for us to adopt further 
provisions and take another course. The road 
will then be pointed out to us ; we shall then 
know the disposition of the South. It may be 
that the South would rather make the rising 
generation stand upon an educational test with 
the colored population, if thereby the present 
generation could be excluded from disabilities 
and enabled to become citizens, to be Ameri- 
cans again. It may be that the South will hail 
this proposition with joy. If so I am confident 
that the North would gladly accept it. If the 
South adopt it, it will prevent all further agi- 
tation of this most embarrassing question ; but 
if you force it without the consent of the peo- 
ple, if there is an attempt by faction to rule in 
the matter, it may prove disastrous. If there 
is no middle ground of pacification it seems to 
me that civil war is almost inevitable before 
the whole matter shall be closed 1 . Before we 
resort to any coercive means, to anything that 
may drench this country again in fraternal blood, 
I am desirous that this proposition, which I be- 
lieve to embody the opinion of a majority of 
Congress, shall go to the southern States and 
be ratified or rejected by them. The proposi- 
tion to them is certainly a very liberal one. It 
proposes to relieve them of all the pains and 
penalties incurred by them in consequence of 
their treason, and if they cheerfully adopt it, 
they can regulate their elective franchise so as 
not to impair their free institutions. I have 
assurances from which I believe the South will 
adopt it. 1 find it is in accord with the repeated 
sentiments of the press of the North. I read 
an extract from Mr. Greeley's paper, the Trib- 
une, the other day. I will again read it : 

"Let it be distinctly understood if the -whites of the 
South are not represented in Congress it is because 
they deny the right of representation or power of 
self-protection to the blacks." 

I say they have not had an opportunity to 
say whether they would or would not deny 
those rights ; that the opportunity has never 
been extended to them ; that the letter of the 
President which proposed substantially these 



6 



terms did not reach them; that the people 
have never had an opportunity to vote upon 
them. The Tribune goes on : 

" Show us a single State which admits her blacks to 
vote on a like intellectual, educational, moral, and 
pecuniary basis with the whites, and we will urge the 
instant admission of the chosen Representatives of 
that State, though they be all ex-rebel generalsof the 
most obnoxious type." 

With this explanation, stating again that I do 
not attempt to give any opinion or commit my- 
self at all on the question of negro suffrage, in- 
troducing this resolution simply to submit what 
I believe to be the opinion of the majority of 
Congress voluntarily to the South, disclaiming 
in the resolution itself any idea of coercion, 
but simply wishing to submit it in order to 
avoid angry discussion here, and then to wait 
until there has been action there upon it; 
simply offering it for such a purpose, I move 
its reference to the committee on reconstruc- 
tion. 

Mr. WILLIAMS. With the permission of 
the Senator I would like to ask him whether, 
if the committee of fifteen should report a plan 
of reconstruction embodying the proposition 
jontained in this resolution, he would support 
.tnd vote for that plan, and if he proposes to 
appose any representation by the rebel States 
n Congress until that plan is adopted by those 
States, in case it should be submitted by Con- 
gress. 

Mr. STEWART. I propose to pass it and 
submit it to the States, and neither to oppose 
nor to ask representation for them, leaving the 
matter to stand until they have had an oppor- 
tunity to vote on it. I propose to vote for it 
myself. I never offer a proposition that I do 
not propose to support. I propose to vote for 
the proposition, and then await the action of 
the South. 

Mr. CONNESS. I rise to inquire whethfer 
if is not a stretch of liberality on the part of the 
'honorable Senator from Nevada to expect the 
committee of fifteen to sustain his proposition 
when he refuses to sustain any proposition 
that comes from the committee of fifteen. 

Mr. STEWART. May I reply to that ? 

Mr. CONNESS. I ask the question. 

Mr. STEWART. It may be a stretch of 
liberality on the part of any gentleman to have 



views of his own ; but if that be the case I shal 
always stretch my liberality. I simply submi 
this proposition. If Congress do not adopt i' 
I shall not feel that I am particularly respon- 
sible for their action ; I simply submit it tc 
them. Other gentlemen have sent proposition! 
to that committee, and it has not been inquire* 
•whether it was a stretch of liberality or not. 
supposed it was a privilege we had, to submi 
our propositions and compare ideas. Of cours* 
I only submit it as a proposition to Congress 
believing it to be the reflex of the sentimen 
that has already been expressed. 

Mr. SUMNER. I merely wish to make on 
remark. I welcome in the Senator from Ne 
vada a new convert to the necessity of colore* 
suffrage. Already repeatedly on this floo 
during the present session I have said tha 
colored suffrage was the only guarantee of fu 
ture peace and security in this country. I hav 
insisted that it was a necessity ; that without i 
your national debt is in peril ; without it you 
freedmen will be in constant peril and this Re 
public cannot enjoy permanent peace. Sii 
I welcome with open arms the Senator froi 
Nevada. 

Leave was granted to introduce the join 
resolution, and it was read twice by its title. 

Mr. SAULSBURY. Believing that this i 
a proposition which no State ought to accep 
or will accept, I move to lay it upon the tabic 

The motion was not agreed to. 

Mr. WILSON. I desire simply to say tha 
I thank the Senator from Nevada for offerin 
this proposition. I have no doubt it will re 
ceive the serious consideration of the commil 
tee to which he proposes to refer it, of th 
Senate, and of the country. I am for one, an 
I believe the country are, willing to settle thi 
whole question on the basis of universal lit 
erty, universal justice, universal suffrage, au 
universal amnesty. 

Mr. STEWART. I would like to have th 
resolution printed before it .is referred. 

Mr. HENDERSON. I am under some ot 
ligations to the Senator from Nevada also, an 
I desire to express them. The Senator froi 
Nevada reads a telegraphic communication froi 
the President, dated last August, to Governo 
Sharkey of Mississippi, urging upon him to hav 
the Mississippi convention adopt or to ingra' 



upon the constitution of Mississippi the princi- 
ple of negro suffrage. I will state that last Octo- 
ber, when I was in this city, the communication 
was laid before me by the President, and I was 
authorized by the President to say in a public 
speech before the people of Missouri that such 
were his views. I was not authorized to pub- 
lish the telegram itself as directed to Governor 
Sharkey. I did not do so, but I did state that 
the President in a private conversation with 
me, and that I was authorized so to say, ex- 
pressed himself in favor of negro suffrage, and 
in a speech at my town in Missouri I stated the 
precise views of the President as they are now 
stated before the Senate this morning. The 
newspaper press all over the country has de- 
nounced that statement to be false. The press 
of my State not agreeing with me in sentiment 
has been very free in its abuse and declarations 
of the falsehood of that statement ; that the 
President was not in favor of negro suffrage ; 
that he had never so expressed himself. Now, 
I suppose that the Senator from Nevada has it 
from the President himself. 

Mr. STEWART. From Governor Sharkey. 

Mr. HENDERSON. I am under very great 
obligations to the Senator from Nevada for 
putting before the country a corroboration of 



what I have said. I have been left almost 
without proof of the fact until this morning. It 
is now established that this is a genuine docu- 
ment, and that the President, even as early as 
last August, was in favor of negro suffrage ; and 
I presume that he is yet in favor of negro suf- 
frage. If I am a radical for being in favor of 
negro suffrage, the President is equally a radi- 
cal ; and I presume that the President will not 
see fit to change his opinion. I desire that it 
shall be distinctly known to the country that 
if the majority in this body and in the lo\yer 
House are to be denounced as radicals and as 
Jacobins throughout the country, the President 
should be placed in the same category ; that if 
it be radicalism to be in favor of negro suf- 
frage, the President is the first and original 
radical upon the subject of negro suffrage in his 
reconstruction. He urged it upon his own 
governors and upon the States. 

Mr. YATES. I simply wish to say that I 
am not surprised that any gentleman should 
find out that free citizens in this country are 
entitled to suffrage. They will find it out very 
soon. 

The joint resolution was referred to the com-,, 
mittee on reconstruction, and ordered to be* 
printed. 



